Schooling in the Philippines

Abstract

The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,107 islands stretching from the south of China to the north of Borneo. Its strategic location has made it not only as a bridge between East and Southeast Asia, but also between Europe and America as its colonial history reveals. Hunt (1993:68) described it as “a cultural crossroads, a place where Malays, Chinese, Spanish, Americans and others have interacted to forge that unique cultural and racial blend known to the world as Filipino”. A home to over a hundred linguistic, cultural and racial groups, the Philippines is, however, a relatively homogeneous society. In a country of over 83 million people, comprised mainly of Christian Malays, 85 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, a feature that distinguishes it from its Asian neighbors. Geographic size and uneven demographic and economic features across the archipelago as well as disruptive discontinuities in the country’s political and economic governance have posed major challenges to national development. Amidst these discontinuities has been the challenge of equity in educational access and outcome. This chapter commences with a discussion of the major historical periods which have shaped contemporary policy and practice in Philippine education. The chapter then provides a macroscopic description of the current structure of schooling in the country and complements this with a vivid example of a typical day in the life of a Filipino student. The penultimate section analyzes educational reforms since the 1990s.